The Heritage Festival was intended as a showcase of Edmonton's ethnic diversity. Since its inception in 1974, it has grown from a one-day event to a three day event hosting almost half a million people and according to this year's news release 75 cultures.
It's staged authenticity. That is, various cultures are recreated far from their original source in an image that is pleasing to the visitors. It becomes a tourist setting. It is actually what tourists want to experience about other cultures without all the negative stuff. Tourists want to feel like the experience was real. They want to feel they have experienced a positive aspect of another culture without the expense and hassle of traveling.
The participants, those who put on the shows and food and displays, are very happy to share these aspects of their culture. They feel a sense of place within the larger community and show that their culture is just as rich and diverse as everyone else's.
Chhabra, Healy and Sills (2003) write;
"In terms of demand, heritage tourism is representative of many contemporary visitor's desire (hereafter, tourists) to directly experience and consume diverse past and present cultural landscapes, performances, foods, handicrafts, and participatory activities. On the supply side, heritage tourism is widely looked to as a tool for community economic development and is often actively promoted by local governments and private businesses." (703)
Oh ya, I forgot about the money. ;0p
Another factor to consider at heritage festivals is that search for authenticity. In travel, tourists try to "get off the beaten path" to experience what Goffman calls back spaces, that is the places that tourists suppose aren't for them, a bit of the authentic. However, Goffman insists that these areas are also staged authenticity. They are designed for those people who deliberately go off the beaten track. There are back spaces at heritage festivals too. You get to see how the participants set up their own spaces, how they use these spaces and what they want you to experience.
If you read your program, you'll see all these elements are in there.
Go! Have fun! Experience something new and wonderful!
If you've ever traveled to any of the countries represented in the festival, are you able to see the difference? Is there a unique Alberta interpretation to culture?
References:
Chhabra, Deepak., Robert Healy and Erin Sills. 2003. "Staged authenticity and heritage tourism" in Annals of Tourism Research. Vol. 30, No. 3. pp. 702-719.
Goffman, E. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
MacCannell, Dean. 1973. "Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in tourist settings" in The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 79. No. 3 (Nov. 1973). pp. 589-603. Available online.
1 comment:
Staged Authenticity = hyper reality?
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